It WAS Hard.

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)  Why?  Because Jesus took up His cross and died for all of our sins.  That's why.

Tonight I realized the fact that I haven't been surrendering my life up to God each and every day like I should.  The verse above says we should pick up our cross DAILY.  Not when we feel like it or when it's convenient.  Daily.  It's a simple act. We give our lives to Him because He gave His life for us.  Allow me to put this into a perspective that the Lord showed me to help me understand.

Jesus gave ALL of His life for us.  He bore the cross and took our shame.  He was the perfect sacrifice.  No one else could take on all of mankind's sins.  He did it with complete love and without complaint.  Yet we complain how hard our own lives are?  No has ever made a complete mockery of us.  No one tells us we are not who we are on a daily basis.  People don't follow us around in hoards which prevents us from the alone time we all need.  One of our friends will never betray us to the point of our own death.  No one has whipped our backs 39 times leading us to almost bleed to death.  We've never had to carry a cross to our death nor hang there for six hours for all of mankind's sins.  We were never resurrected and we are not sitting at the right hand of God.  In short, Jesus gave it all away for us and IT WAS HARD.  Never once did He complain or grumble against the world.  He loved the world and understood the fact that it wasn't entirely their fault.  Their world had corrupted them.  Darkness had set in but He was the light.  He did not forced His way into hearts by weapons or an army but with LOVE.  Jesus can share in our sufferings because he himself went through the same sufferings.  Jesus knows temptation.  IT WAS HARD but Jesus never gave in.  Jesus kept moving forward knowing that if He stayed in step He would join His father in heaven one day.  Life is hard but I would beg to differ that His life was harder but through it He reached a glory that far exceeded it all.

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."(2 Corinthians 4:17)

It WAS hard.  It doesn't have to be anymore.  Praise God.  He kept moving forward.  Will you?

Kelsey Johnson